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Calculation of the energy requirement and weight reduction diagram
With this function it is possible to calculate energy requirements under consideration of personal data
(age, sex, height, weight, physical activity). The total energy requirement is calculated as sum of basal and
additional energy expenditure. The basal metabolic rate is calculated by a complicated formula. It is the energy
needed by a person lying at 20 °C ambient temperature and dressed in light clothes. The additional energy
requirement depends on the physical activity for which several examples are included in the program together
with the respective energy costs. Since there are individual differences in the basal metabolic rate and assessing
the additional energy requirements is not easy the calculated values should only be regarded as approximated
values.
With the button Weight reduction diagram and Weight gain diagram it is possible to calculate the time
which is necessary to reduce or increase body weight to a certain value with two different diets (e.g. 1000 and
1500 kcal). Since a weight reduction is usually accompanied by a higher reduction of the basal metabolic than
expected the time to get a certain weight loss is usually longer.
Printout of the current food record
If you go to ‘Printout of the current food record’, you get the complete analysis of your dietary plan, listing the
amount of each food entered and comparing calculated with recommended nutrient supply. The nutrient selection
which you see here can be changed under ‘Extras/Choose nutrients’.
To make recommendations, the calculated nutrient supply is compared with the requirements of the reference
group you have chosen on the worksheet (e.g. women 19-24 years). For the recommendations of energy and
macronutrients you have two possibilities: Go to 'Extras/Options' and decide, whether you want to use the non-
specific fix values of the selected recommendation file or if you prefer to use those which are specifically
calculated by the program. For the latter you should first enter the necessary personal data in
‘Calculations/Energy requirement'.
Analysis of several food records
With this function it is possible to calculate the average nutrient content and some other data of several food
records. To select several food records press the CTRL key while clicking on the names of the food records. For
the output a standard text format or a Excel spreadsheet can be selected. The latter one is especially useful if the
results are used for further statistical analysis since the single values (nutrients, food group intake, meals) for
each food record are calculated. The food group intake is mainly interesting for scientific studies, for example if
you want to know the consumption of cruciferious vegetables (G3) in two different population groups.
Diagram
You see here the graphical comparison of calculated and recommended nutrient supply. The comparison is
shown for those nutrients which are selected in ‘Extras/Choose nutrients’ and for which recommendations are
available.
If you want to export the diagram into another program, first push the button ‘Clipboard’, then open the target
program (e.g. Winword) and insert the diagram.
Foods for deficit supply
For nutrients where the intake in the current food record is lower than the recommendation, some examples for
foods are given on how to compensate these deficits. Since these calculated values are approximations they are
only intended to give an idea on how to deal with nutrient deficits.
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Calculation of the food group distribution
With this function you can sort the foods of the current food plan according to the food groups and calculate the
percentage contribution of each food group to the total nutrient supply for every nutrient which is selected under
'Extras/Choose nutrients'. This function is particularly useful if you want to know which food group is the main
source of a certain nutrient, for example fat or calcium. The dishes of the program (_) are broken down into the
ingredients.
Sorting the plan for nutrient content
With this function you can graphically sort the foods or food groups of the current food record (or several other
food records) for every nutrient which is selected under 'Extras/Choose nutrients'.
Adjusting the energy of a food record
This function allows the adjustment of the energy content of a food record to any desired value by changing the
amounts of foods. It can be used to adapt a standard food record to the energy requirements of people of different
height or physical activity.
Shopping list
This function summarizes the identical foods of different plans to make a shopping list. Recipes in the food
records are broken down to the single contents.
Dietary History
The dietary history method attempts to estimate the usual food intakes of individuals over a long period of time
(several months). It is an interview method meant to deliver general information on the types of foods consumed
at mealtimes and between meals, their frequency of consumption and usual portion sizes. This information can be
used to calculate mean daily supplies of nutrients. Therefore, the dietary history is useful for scientific studies and
can serve as a basis for nutritional counselling.
The dietary history interview is based on the file intervie.dat, which you can modify according to your needs. If you
open the file within an editor, you will immediately recognise its structure. After modification the file has to be
saved unformatted and under the same name.
When carrying out a dietary history interview use the enter key or the mouse (double click) to select meals, parts
of meals and single foods. On the level of the single foods enter the frequency of consumption of a food per week
and the usual portion size. The frequency can be entered with the keyboard (1 - 7) or with the buttons on the right
side on the top. A frequency of 0.25 can be entered with the ‘v’ key or with the button v¼; it means once a month
and is the lowest frequency to enter. To enter a frequency below once per week you must push the button with
v¼ (two times for ½). After you have entered the frequency, the sheet for selecting a portion size opens. Your
selected frequencies and portion sizes are shown on the interview. Frequencies can be entered both for foods,
food groups and meals. This makes it possible to control the entered frequencies to a certain extent. Questions
like ‘How many times a week do you have a warm meal for lunch and how many times a cold meal ?’ may be
helpful.
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On the right side of the sheet you can find several functions:
Add: With this button you can add an additional food from the food database. If you realise, for example,
that your desired type of bread is not listed in 'Breakfast/Foods/Bread, Rolls', mark any of the listed types of
bread (not the food group!), then press the ‘Add’ button and enter part of the name of your desired food.
Replace: This function allows you to replace a marked food by another one listed in the food database.
Contents: Here you get the analysis of a single marked food.
Recipe: This function lists the ingredients of NutriSurvey dishes (beginning with ‘_’). For other foods this
function is not available.
Open: With this function you can load a saved interview.
Save: Here you save an interview as ‘file-name.int’ (type of file: interviews)
Transfer: This function transfers the interview into the worksheet (file: intervie.epl) automatically calculating
an average daily plan from the interview data.
Food Frequency
The function ‘Food Frequency’ is one of the easiest possibilities to quantify the average nutrient intake of a
person. A standard list of foods is presented and the frequency and number of the standard portion sizes can be
entered. To start the Food Frequency select ‘Food Frequency/Enter data’. In the portion column you can press p
to open the window for entering the frequencies (daily, weekly, monthly) and the number of portions. After
finishing the data entry empty lines can be removed with ‘Edit/Delete empty lines’.
To change a Food Frequency select ‘Food Frequency/Change structure’. The file foodfreq.dat is loaded into the
worksheet and foods and headings can be changed (the amount of food is automatically set to 0). After saving
you can print the questionnaire under ‘Food Frequency/Print’. The standard portion size which is used for the food
frequency can be changed under ‘Food/Change portion sizes’.
Search foods for nutrients
With this function you can search for foods according to certain criteria. You can search for one or more nutrients,
for nutrient density and for amounts of foods delivering a specific amount of a certain nutrient. It is also possible to
restrict the search to single food groups (hold down the Ctrl key and click on the respective groups). As the
nutrient content is not equal to nutrient bioavailability and there is always some variation in the nutrient content,
the values calculated with this function should only serve as estimates.
Modify food database
If you want to add a food to the database of the program press the button ‘Add a food’. An empty line is inserted
and you can enter food name and nutrient contents (per 100 g). If you do not know the content of a certain
nutrient, just leave the respective cell empty. The program is then able to differentiate between 0 and unknown. A
portion size and kitchen waste can be added in the last columns of the table. Your entered foods are allocated to
the group ‘Additional foods’; their codes begin with ‘Z’. Food codes and food names can be fixed, which makes it
easier to scroll through the nutrients. You can also change the view with the button ‘Change view’ to see only the
selected food. With copy and insert you can copy the nutrients from another food and insert it into the free line.
This is especially useful if you want to add a similar food.
If you want to change codes, food names, nutrient contents or portion sizes, just go to the respective cell and
make your change. The database is sorted according to the food codes. Therefore, knowledge of the codes
makes it easier to find a certain food. It is not recommended to change food codes, as they are used in certain
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functions of the program. But you might want to change the codes of the foods you have added.
With the button ‘Delete food’ you can delete foods.
For safety reasons all changes are only saved when you confirm the question after pushing the OK button.
Include more foods from other databases
This function is only available, if additional food databases are installed. On the NutriSurvey website you can find
the complete version of the german food database (13046 foods, file blsges.fta), and several other country
specific databases (file extension .fta). One of the most useful is probably the USDA food table from 2006 (SR19).
Please use this function only if certain foods are missing to prevent an overload of the standard food database
which makes it more complicated to find the right foods. Foods are included into the NutriSurvey food database by
marking them and then pressing the Save button.
Changing portion sizes
With this function you can change the suggestions for portion sizes. First find the respective food (knowing its
food code will be helpful) and change the amount or delete/insert another portion size. Depending on your
computer deleting or inserting portion sizes may take some time.
Adding, changing and recalculating recipes
If you want to add a new recipe to the food database, enter its composition in the same way as you would enter a
food record into the worksheet. Save your food record with ‘Food/Save food record as recipe’; and enter a name
for your recipe. It is useful to put a (R) at the end of the name to differentiate it from the other foods. When your
new recipe is saved, it gets a code beginning with ‘_’ (group: dishes), and the program automatically calculates
the nutrient contents per 100 g of the dish. If you want to enter suggestions for portion sizes of the recipe, go to
‘Food/Change portion sizes’.
If you want to change a recipe, load it into the worksheet with ‘Foods/Change a recipe’ by selecting the respective
dish. In the upper right spreadsheet you can then modify the composition as you like. If you would like to enter a
new recipe which is based on an existing one, open the recipe and copy it to the main spreadsheet. From there
you can save it under a new name ('Food/Save food record as new recipe').
If you have changed nutrient contents of foods with ‘Food/Modify food database’, the nutrient contents of affected
recipes are revised only if they are recalculated with the button which you find in this window.
During the preparation of dishes the nutrient composition is changed. Some of the nutrients are lost because of
instability and others are concentrated because of evaporated water. Both things can be addressed in the lower
right part of this window. First enter the yield of a recipe (it is usually less than 1 because of evaporated water)
and then the losses for each nutrient. Since this is mostly unknown and a lot of work you can also just press one
of the buttons for the preparation which is used. This procedure is a very rough estimate but still better than to use
no adjustment.
Saving all foods in a file and import of foods
The first function (‘Food/Save foods in a file’) saves the internal food database in the file lebensmittel.txt. This file
can be integrated in all common spreadsheet calculation programs (for example Excel) or reimported to
NutriSurvey with the function ‘Food/Import food from file’. If the structure of this file is not changed this function
can be used to import foods from other databases if they are added to the file lebensmittel.txt.
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Options
In Extras/Options you can adapt the program to your own needs:
-Printout: For the printout the best option is to have MS-Word. You can then also combine the printout with a
template. By activating the check box for 'Print with diagram' it is possible to add automatically the diagram to your
printout.
-Nutrients in printout: With this function you can select the two nutrients which are printed with every food in the
printout. The most common selection are energy and carbohydrates.
-Column for portion measures: If this box is enabled you see in the main spreadsheet the portion sizes.
-Comparing macronutrients: For the recommendations of the energy and macronutrients you can either use the
fixed values of the recommendation files (DGE or RDA) or specifically calculated values by the program. In the
latter case the personal data in ‘Calculations/Energy requirement’ is used to adjust the values by assuming an
'ideal' body weight and distributes the total energy among the macronutrients as follows: protein 12 % (but not
more than 80g), fat 30 % and carbohydrates 58 %. The recommendations for macronutrients given by the
recommendation files are not realistic, because height and physical activity of a person are not considered and for
protein only a minimum recommendation is suggested, which lies at 8 % of total energy. Such a small protein
supply is not recommended and every ‘healthy’ diet contains more protein.
-Unit of energy: Here you can choose between kcal and kJ.
Selection of nutrients
With this function it is possible to change the number and order of those nutrients, which are displayed in the
worksheet and the output for the results. There are 7 basic selections available (Standard, All, ...), which cover the
most important nutrient groups. To modify a given selection, click on the corresponding radio button and drag and
drop the nutrients. After clicking on OK the modifications are saved.
Reading and changing recommendations
This table allows you to read and change the recommendations of the selected recommendation file. Available
are the recommendations of the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), the recommendations of the WHO/FAO and
the RDA's from the USA. In the chapters ‘Analysis of a plan and printout’ and ‘Options’ you get information on
how to get more realistic recommendations for the macronutrients.
Modification of nutrient description, headings and groups for energy values
This function enables the change of any nutrient description, headings for food plans (inserted under
'Edit/Headings'), groups for energy values which are used under 'Calculations/Energy requirement' and the foods
which are suggested to avoid nutrient deficits. With the Button 'reset' it is always possible to get back to the
original description and values.
Import of data from a previous version of NutriSurvey
Since the format of several files have been changed in version 2007 of NutriSurvey it is necessary to convert
these files from the 2005 version. For this you have to go to the directory of the old version of NutriSurvey and to
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mark the boxes for the files which should be incorporated into the 2007 version. It is useful to do this only for the
things which are absolutely necessary (e.g. a special selection of foods in the database) since some of the files in
version 2007 have been improved.
Individual anthropometric assessment
With this function it is possible to compare the anthropometric development of a child in comparison to an
international reference (NCHS 1977). After entering of birthdate, sex, date of visit, weight and height the program
calculates the values for the percentiles, the % of the Median and the z-score for weight for age, height for age
and weight for height. The z-score is an indicator for how many standard deviations the child is above or below
the mean. A z-score of less than -2 or more than +2 is usually seen as out of the normal range (in the reference
only 2.3% of the children are below or above this value).
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